Topic description:
Many different disciplines and fields study agency & agency-related issues, yet communication amongst them is fragmentary and ad hoc. This impairs progress because theory development fails take into account the full range of relevant issues and evidence. Here I present an outline for an integrative conceptual framework for agency, and as part of this framework develop a biologically grounded acount of the core features of cognitive agency. I argue that this account can cast light on the kind of autonomous agency that is of concern to moral and political theorists, and might serve as a starting point for a broader integration of biological, cognitive, economic and moral perspectives on agency.

Biographical note:
Wayne Christensen is at the MACCS cognitive science centre at Macquarie University, Australia. From 2002-2004 he was a Fellow at the KLI. His research interests include the evolution of cognition, executive control, skills, and memory.